NICK VUJICIC
He want to share with you his testimony as to how God has given
his grace, strength and comfort through his disability and how
you can have victory, peace and joy in your life, even if circumstances
are still present in your life that don’t make sense or
cause your world to turn upside down.

Special
Music

Hymn
" Joyful, Joyful.. "
" I Sing the Mighty Power of God "
“ Take My Life and Make it New ”

Anthem
" Clap Your Hands! "

Solo
ANTHONY EVANS – “The Fight”

The Message

I learned a very,
very important lesson oh I think it’s nearly 20 years
ago. And that lesson was to know the days that your trash
is not going to be collected. Do you know what I’m
talking about? We have five holidays in my neighborhood
where our trash is not collected. For some reason, every
house I’ve ever lived in, the trash is collected on
Tuesday’s. And as a result of that, when there’s
a holiday, they don’t collect it on Tuesday, they
collect it the following day on Wednesday. Strange, I know
but that’s the way it is.

So I had a situation
that was really bizarre. It was one of those times where
for some reason I forgot to take the trash out one week,
the next week I forgot to take it out again. I think I was
out of town or something. Now I have three weeks worth of
trash piled up on the side of the house. We’re talking
an embarrassingly amount of trash to put out on the curb.
The next weekend is Memorial Day weekend. And they don’t
collect trash on Monday; it’s too embarrassing to
have it sitting out there for any longer than it absolutely
has to. So I’m committed to put it out on Wednesday
morning early because I know my trash comes early and then
I will eliminate some of my embarrassment.

So Tuesday morning,
I look around and out of about 13 homes, there’s about
three or four who have their trash out because they forgot
about the trash being delayed a day. So I’m confident
when I go to bed that night that the trash isn’t going
to be collected. And I’m laying there in bed, all
of a sudden in the middle of the night, three o’clock
in the morning, I will swear to my dying day I heard the
trash truck coming. I couldn’t believe it. I hopped
out of bed, and I listened really carefully cause you know
you can hear it coming off in the distance? And it was really
quiet so I go okay I can hear it.. where did it go? It’s
not there. Oh man I must have been sleeping. It must have
been.. you know, it’s my imagination. I went back
to bed. I don’t think I’d just gotten to sleep
and I heard it again and it woke me out of my deep sleep
and I jumped out of bed, I go I heard it again, I can’t
believe it. A third time it happened I couldn’t stand
it; I actually literally got dressed, got in my car, drove
around to see if I could find the trash truck. This is an
honest truth. It was a nightmare. I was having a trash nightmare!
And it was so vivid and so real, that I wouldn’t believe
it until I got in the car and drove around and I couldn’t
find any trash trucks, I could find a few trash cans out
by the curb, but only a few, and with that I finally went
back to bed and resolved the fact that it would not be collected
and the following morning I got my trash out just before
the trash man came. He collected all and it was all behind
me. Whew! What a relief getting rid of that trash.

And what we have
to do in order to become the best people that God has called
us to be, is to learn the steps that it takes to be the
best you that you can be. And what we’ve been talking
about for the last few weeks is steps to a better you. And
it’s based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The 12 steps that have been used in recovery groups regardless
of what the addiction is for decades. I’ve been talking
about it now and somebody wrote in and asked me why don’t
you give credit to the author of the 12 steps. And the reason
I don’t give credit to an author of the 12 steps is
that all of my best research, I have been unsuccessful in
finding an actual author to the 12 steps. Someone had mentioned
Bill Wilson as the author and I don’t believe he is
but he might be.

And so what I
have discovered is that there is a gentleman who is regarded
as the leading historian in Alcoholics Anonymous. His name
is Dick B. And if you want to study the history of Alcoholics
Anonymous you can go to dickb.com and it can give you some
more information but this is the best summary of who wrote
the 12 steps that I’m familiar with. And I’m
quoting directly from Dick B. He says very simply, “AA
was based on the Bible.” Its co-founder, Dr. Bob said
“AA took its basic ideas from the study of what he
and others called the good book.” Both Bill W. and
Dr. Bob, as co founders, frequently said that “the
sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 to 7 contained the underlying
philosophy of AA.” Dr. Bob pointed to Jesus’
sermon, 1st Corinthians 13 of the book of James as being
“absolutely essential to the solution of their problems.”
The Oxford Group, of which AA was an intricle part in its
developing years, espoused principles that it said were
the principles of the Bible. Its founder, Dr. Frank Buckman,
was said to be soaked in the Bible and its principle American
writer and spokesman on the East Coast, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker
Jr. was called a Bible Christian. And both of these men
and their ideas impacted directly on AA fellowship, on its
big book, on the 12 steps and on the very language AA uses
to this day. And believe it or not, that’s the closest
I have been able to come to finding an author of the 12
steps. I don’t think it’s ironic. I think it’s
prophetic that an organization which is built on anonymity
would leave its foundation anonymous. So that no one could
take credit for the hand of God. And I believe as a compilation
of men and women who came together, who squeezed out from
the scriptures steps that would help us to grow into the
people that God wants us to be, overcoming our addictions
and overcoming our sin and developing into the humans that
espouse the love and the purity and the goodness of God.

And so it is
as we look at these last three steps of the 12 steps, that
I pray that you will not become a student of the 12 steps
but instead an actor of the 12 steps. And when I say an
actor, I mean someone who embraces the 12 steps, who lives
by the 12 steps, and continues to correct his actions through
the 12 steps.

The last three
steps that have been espoused to us through the scriptures
that give us direction and guidance and fill our heads with
the fullness of God’s love are these. It says, “I
will continue to take personal inventory and where I find
wrong, promptly admit it.” That’s number 10.
Number 11 says, “I will seek to know more of God”
and number 12 says, “I will seek to carry to others
the glorious message of the possibility of a spiritual awakening.”
We start with the first one and continue to take personal
inventory and when we’re wrong promptly admit it,
I want to encourage you to realize that living by the 12
steps, we’re living the spiritual Christian life,
or trying to be a success in life, is simply like trying
to go from point A to point B. How many people here have
ever gotten lost in their cars trying to reach a destination?
You made a wrong turn, you missed the off ramp, you got
off too soon, and you didn’t go straight to your destination.
How many of you, once you realized you made a mistake simply
made a course change and reached your destination? Most
of you are going to say most of the time that’s what
happens, with rare exception. And you don’t lose a
whole lot of sleep over making a wrong turn. About making
a mistake. Instead, you just simply correct it and you say
oh well, I’m going to be a little later than I expected.
And that’s it.

And that’s
what the first step is all about, spotting an error and
making a correction. And when you go through life, and you
make a mistake, simply admit I made a mistake. One of the
things I learned from my father at a very young age, were
very simple words: You’re right, I’m wrong.
And they’re hard words to say, but if you’re
ever in a discussion with somebody, and you find out that
you’re on the wrong side of the discussion and you’ve
changed your mind, simply say those words and look at the
astonishment in their face. It’s amusing. It’s
fun when you say you’re right, I’m wrong. Immediately
the first expression is usually they think they’ve
misunderstood you. Or you’ve misspoken. And they start
getting upset. They go well how do you know I’m wrong.
No, no, no I said you’re right, I’m wrong. And
it’s a fun lesson to learn, those four words. You’re
right, I’m wrong. An immediate correction in the course
of a day. Then when you get to the end of your day, I want
to encourage you to spend time in prayer and meditation
and think about the things that you could have done differently,
people you may have harmed or hurt, and pray and make the
restitution that’s necessary, specifically before
you put your head on the pillow. Because the Bible is very
succinct and my parents taught it to me very well. It wasn’t
unusual for me to get in fights with my sisters. I had four
of them. And when you live with four sisters, believe it
or not boys and girls when they’re young are like
oil and water. And we would get in arguments, I know that’s
hard for you to believe, but we would, and my parents would
pull us aside and they would make sure we shook hands and
we hugged and even though we hated to do it at that point,
and made up. And then they would quote this verse to us:
“Never let the sun set on your wrath.” And that’s
a Bible verse. It’s found in Ephesians 4. “Never
let the sun set on your wrath.” You have to resolve
it before you go to bed at night.

And thirdly,
the thing we need to do is periodically we need to take
what I call long-term reminders. Where once every few months
you get away for a retreat, you get away from the normal
routine of your time and your days and you sit down and
you take personal inventory again of what’s taking
place in your life.

And we have a
prayer journal, and if you haven’t had an opportunity
to get one of these, write in to us and let us send you
one. I’d love to send you a prayer journal. If you’re
here this morning, I would love to give you one. And what
it is is simply a journal. And at the bottom of every page,
there’s Bible verses, which help us journal our prayers.
Journal the struggles we’re having. Journal the progress
we’re making and at the bottom of every one is a Bible
verse. Here I just opened up randomly and this one says
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.” A prayer journal.
Step number 11 says “We sought through prayer and
meditation to improve our conscious contact with God.”
And as we understood Him praying only for knowledge of His
will for us, and the power to carry that out. My father
and I have built a couple buildings in our life. When I
was about 13 years old, one of the things my dad did is
he went and built and bought an unbuildable lot in Big Bear
Lake. Does that sound like something a possibility thinker
would do? He bought a lot that you couldn’t build
on. And what does a possibility thinker do, when he buys
a lot that you can’t build on. He builds on it. And
that’s exactly what he did. We built a mountain cabin;
he and I did a lot of the physical labor ourselves. We’d
drive up there and we built this cabin in the mountains
on an unbuildable lot and he figured out a solution to all
the problems, and we had wonderful plans. We started with
a real strong foundation, we probably over engineered the
foundation and poured a ton of cement in that foundation,
and I know that it was effective and successful because
there was an earthquake and this cabin was right on the
epicenter. It was a 6.2, it happened in 1992, and guess
what: it survived.
What we do in step number 11 is we build a strong foundation.
Now how do you do that? It starts with prayer and meditation.
It continues by reading the Bible and it’s completed
by associating with other believers, other people who are
going through what you’re going through and dealing
with what you’re dealing with.

And finally step
number 12, it says, “Having had a spiritual awakening
as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message
to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
And that’s what its all about is to teach others and
to spread the good news and to spread the word. How many
have ever heard this phrase the best way to learn something
is to teach it! A lot of you know it. The best way to learn
something is to teach it. And if you really want to experience
spiritual growth in your life, you have to give it away.
You have to allow other people to embrace it. You have to
share it and you have to be used by God and others to make
it happen. We’re living in a world of tremendous possibilities.

We recently had
an interesting institute here, it’s called Faith Forward
and we had a dinner and at that dinner we had Ken Medema.
Some of you are familiar with Ken Medema, he’s a blind
songwriter and singer and it’s not uncommon for him
to sing here in the Cathedral. Also, we had Francis Collins;
some of you might remember him as well. He was the head
of the Genome Project and he mapped out the entire DNA code.
Then along with that we also had Michael Guillen who is
a Science Editor for several different institutions and
a brilliant man. Well these three, among others, were..
and I was invited to that dinner as well and we’re
enjoying our dinner and the topic came up about DNA. Francis
Collins, and the question was, Francis, what do you see
as the future of DNA? He said you know there’s been
some amazing things. Said we’re going to see health
care take a turn in the next twenty, thirty years that’s
beyond our imagination. He said for instance we recently
injected some puppies who had a disease which caused blindness
and these puppies were in their kennel and they were running
around bumping into the walls in this room. And we injected
them with the DNA to correct they’re DNA code and
within a few weeks they could see. They weren’t bumping
into walls anymore. And Ken Medema’s there and Michael
Guillen turned and looked at Ken and he said, “Ken
do you want to see?” And Ken said, “I don’t
know.” He goes “I don’t know. I hear so
well” and he’s so used to living his life this
whole way, he goes I don’t know. He’ll sit here
and listen to my message on a Sunday morning and then afterwards
he’ll write a song, compose it during my message and
recite this song in music that summarizes the whole thing
better than I could myself. And he hears with his heart
and his ears and the question is do I really want to get
better?

And today we
have to ask ourselves the same question; do you want to
be well? And that’s what the 12th step is all about.
Giving people the opportunity who want to get well. Sharing
with them the steps that they can take to receive wholeness
and health. Let me share with you the scripture passage
which pulls this whole thing together. And there’s
a term in here, what I’m going to read which refers
to Gentiles. And the literal translation of a Gentile is
someone who isn’t a Jew. But I think it’s better
for us to understand in this text, a Gentile is someone
who doesn’t understand and practice the twelve steps.
The spiritual steps of the reality of God’s goodness
and grace. And so as I read, think of it in this terms.

“This
I say therefore and affirm together with the Lord, that
you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in their
futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding,
excluding from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in them because of the hardness of their heart.
And they, having become calloused, having given themselves
over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity
with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way.
If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him
just as truth is in Jesus that in reference to your former
manner of life, you lay aside the old self which is being
corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and that
you be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And put on the
new self, which in the likeness of God has been created
in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying
aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with the neighbor
for we are members of one another. Let no unwholesome word
proceed from your mouth but only such a word as is good
for edification according to the need of the moment that
it may give grace to those who hear. That all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from
you along with all malice and be kind to one another, tender
hearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ also
has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved
children. And walk in love just as Christ also loved you.”
That’s what it’s all about, putting on the new
you. Accepting the grace and the love of Jesus Christ and
living in His fullness.

We’re going
to conclude this by reading together the Serenity Prayer.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot
change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom
to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying
one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to
peace, taking as Jesus did the sinful world as it is. Not
as I would have it. Trusting that you will make all things
right if I surrender to Your will. So that I may be reasonably
happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever
in the next, Amen.